New York`s Pbs Program Factory Cuts Back

June 27, 1986|By Steve Daley.

Heat Up the Wok: Fans of the Public Broadcasting Service may be in line for more of those cooking shows in the next few seasons. At least that`s the perception seeping out of Manhattan as WNET-Ch. 13 in New York, a principal supplier of programming for PBS, announced last week that it is backing off a long-established commitment to national programming and focusing on production of shows of primary interest and appeal in the New York area.

At present, WNET is involved in the production of nearly half of PBS`

programming, including ``Great Performances`` and ``Heritage,`` as well as the ``The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour`` and ``Nature.`` Those last two shows will continue to be produced, but the face of the prime-time schedule at stations like Chicago`s WTTW-Ch. 11 may change.

While the decision at WNET may make economic sense, it signals a change in that station`s philosophy, and has led to a bit of laughing up the sleeve at WTTW and other PBS outlets.

Last November, on the occasion of Channel 11`s 30th birthday, WNET president John Jay Iselin offered his Chicago brethren a decidedly left-handed compliment. Iselin told The Tribune: ``(WTTW) has a tremendously high and deserved reputation. In origination in programs, you might turn elsewhere, but in terms of putting it all together, WTTW does a fine job.``

Loosely translated, those remarks meant that stations like Iselin`s were carrying the programming weight for less ambitious PBS operations. Now, voices at WNET find themselves following the lead of stations with a bottom-line orientation.

The yelps from WNET are born of pending layoffs, of a systemwide financial crush, part of which can be laid at the door of the Reagan Administration and its conservative approach to funding for public television, and of the experiences of stations like KCET in Los Angeles, which took an $8 million loss in the production of Carl Sagan`s 13-part ``Cosmos.``

WNET took a dunking of its own with its $5.2 million production of ``The Adams Chronicles.``

Part of the dilemma in New York is that WNET is laboring within its own signal area. A.C. Nielsen figures indicate that WNET is being watched regularly by about 50 percent of the viewers in the greater New York area. By contrast, WTTW reaches nearly 70 percent of the TV households in the Chicago area.

With financial pressures of their own, the deep thinkers at WTTW are reluctant to air Iselin out in public. But sources at the station insist there will be programming aplenty for this fall and next, whatever the artistic posture at WNET.

Sampling

Uplifting Video Rumor of the Week: The revamped ``CBS Morning News,`` due soon, might include a Chicago-based anchor. And that anchor is likely to be Linda Ellerbee, now in the process of leaving NBC News . . .

Secrets of ABC`s vaults: Geraldo Rivera`s chair at ABC`s ``20/20`` has been filled by network correspondent Stone Phillips. With Lynn Scherr moving in to replace Sylvia Chase, who moved to a local anchor job in San Francisco, the newsmagazine`s staff of seven is again complete . . . ABC`s ``20/20``

unit will produce a two-hour special devoted to the 50th anniversary of Life magazine, to air in November with Barbara Walters doing the honors . . .

The network`s pending Sunday morning show devoted to the business world, tentatively called ``The Bottom Line,`` has female staffers quoting the aforementioned Linda Ellerbee`s hilarious book, ``And So It Goes,`` on the subject of women managers in the networks: ``You can count the number of women executives (at the three networks) on both hands and have two thumbs left over with which to twiddle, and wait.``

Terrorism may be a popular topic in editorial board rooms, travel agencies and airline commercials these days, but NBC`s ``1986`` special report last week on the topic, complete with a look at the Achille Lauro hijacking and more of the controversial interview with Palestinian Abu Abbas, earned a dismal 8.5 rating and a 15 share in last week`s Nielsen derby. The show, with ``Nightly News`` anchor Tom Brokaw sitting in for madcap Roger Mudd, finished 55th for the week . . .

WCIU-TV-Ch. 26 becomes the third ``charter`` affiliate in NetSpan, a fledgling Spanish-language network with affiliates in New York and Los Angeles. The hope at Channel 26 is that this new connection, which sets itself in competition with the Spanish-language SIN network (carried here by WSNS-Ch. 44), will supply the station with higher quality programming, as well as the benefits of a national advertising sales operation . . .

And WGBO-Ch. 66 will air ``The Hollywood All-Stars vs. The Chicago Bears`` softball game (June 30, 7 p.m.). The Bears are real enough--Otis Wilson, Wilber Marshall, Jimbo Covert and others--but the All-Stars, led by

``Dance Fever`s`` Adrian Zmed and Donny Most of ``Happy Days`` notoriety, are a long way from Hollywood and All-Star status.